"The path to success is to take massive, determined actions."
-Tony Robbins

The two keywords in that sentence are determined and actions.

Determined can have two meanings and, I like both of them in this context.

The first meaning of determined is 'achieving the desired outcome' and the second, 'that you've given some consideration as to what outcome you are working towards'.

Simply put, in order to succeed, you need a plan and you need to act with determination. I know it sounds easy and, intellectually it is, it gets much harder when trying to apply this to real life.

The time to start thinking about next year is now, not January 1st!

There is nothing easy about thinking long term about your life and few of us are truly blessed with a seemingly natural ability to look long term... the rest of us have to think long and hard about what it is we want for ourselves and our time on this planet.

The purpose of today's podcast is to help set you up for having the best year of your life not by chance, but by conscious purpose.

What I Covered

• The five categories needed for this process to be successful for you. The five are interchangeable to some respect but, they are also hierarchical in natural meaning, you simply just can't pass go and collect your money unless you have it (at least) somewhat figured out. You will be stuck at that point.
• Tips on how to improve on those categories if you're stuck on any one of them.
• Discussion and examples of each branch in your life by design, connecting how they all apply in the greater context.

New research presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology linked an increased risk of your child developing allergies if they were born via cesarean section.

Studies also presented showing how mom eats while pregnant and what she feeds her child during infancy have an impact on the risk of the child developing allergies.

The first study looked at the medical charts of 158,422 children and identified children with 0,1,2,3, or 4 allergic conditions identified as food allergies, eczema, asthma, and hay fever. Then the method of delivery was compared with the number of allergies recorded. The results showed that vaginal delivery was associated with a reduced rate of allergies as well as exclusive and supplemental breastfeeding.

The second study looked at 1315 women and recorded their diet during pregnancy. The study found mothers with 'poor dietary diversity' along with a maternal history of allergic disease were more likely to develop eczema or food allergy. Thirty-three percent of the children of those same mothers were likely to become diagnosed with food allergies or eczema by age two.

This Is What We Covered

• A review of the studies along with their possible shortcomings and how these can affect expecting moms and young children.
• A discussion as to why we are possibly seeing these trends, and what to do about them as a parent.
• The importance of diet and the role of human development over time and how this affects our general health.

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Two new studies remind us of what we already know but sometimes forget.

The above is a quote that opens the article titled "To Delay Death, Lift Weights."

What an appropriate way to describe strength training, something that, the research is quite clear, has outstanding health benefits to the body, yet is often brushed under the rug.

It makes sense, going to the gym, or moving your body in upwards of 80% of your one-rep maximum is uncomfortable and scary. But it's so worth it for your health.

The attached article review two studies.

The first was performed at the University of Indiana. 4,440 adults over 50 were assessed between 1999-2002 and were followed up on again in 2011 to see who passed away. The three variables they measured were strength, muscle mass and mortality.

In the results they found that those with low muscle strength were two times more likely to have died during the follow-up. In contrast, low muscle mass didn't seem to matter as much.

In the second study, 80,000 adults in England and Scotland completed surveys that were analyzed and it showed that those who completed any strength training activity were 23% less likely to die during the study period and 31% less likely to die from cancer.

What We Covered

• A review on why movement is a requirement for optimal health and normal physiology in the human body.
• The Move By Design principles and how those apply in this case.
• A general overview of the two studies mentioned in the article
• Discussion around the limitations of each study and the possible limitations of the outcomes.
• The possible hypothetical mechanisms of the results.

What We Covered

This truly was one of my favorite episodes to record.

Was it because of the fantastic content? Yes. Of course the content was wonderful and for many, the concepts we covered will challenge your current training approach and lead to significant and results boosting action.

But it was more than the content... it was the guest.

On today's episode of the Life By Design Podcast I had the opportunity to speak with 6x CrossFit Games athlete (including finishing as the 12th fittest man in the world in 2016) Marcus Filly.

Marcus is a husband, father of 2 daughters and the CEO and Founder of Revival Strength and Functional Bodybuilding, and creator of Awaken Training Series.

What I loved about this episode was the value systems and principles that make up this functional bodybuilding model. The amount of crossover with Life By Design lead to a detailed dive into what works in the functional fitness real world and what doesn't.

What We Covered

• The journey that lead Marcus from a high school athlete to Division 1 athletics to the CrossFit Games and eventually leaving CrossFit altogether to create a more logical approach to functional fitness.
• The pitfalls of Traditional CrossFit Marcus witnessed while coaching in his own facility...including the secret to behind the "I look too bulky" statement heard from many women.
• The 3 fundamentals of Functional Bodybuilding that highlight a massive shift from most program design within the functional fitness world.
• How to move athletes from trying to hit PR's and burning out to consistently, frequent, recoverable training that yields results over time.

Beware the health halo.

The health halo is a term or in this case, group of words, that are often associated with a particular outcome.

For example, when you hear the term organic what comes to mind? Most likely, your brain jumps to fresh, healthy, crispy, colourful, etc.

Now, what if we mentioned that both cocaine and heroin can be by definition organic?

Health halo terms also include "natural, drugless, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, keto" and the topic of today's episode "plant-based."

Recently, and it's unknown if this is correlated or coincidental, but a change in Canada's food guide toward a more 'plant-based' diet (their words not ours) has seen many fast food chains jump on board and begin offering 'meatless, beyond meat, and plant-based' options to their customers.

Of course, since we love business and free enterprise, it's lovely to see companies meet (meat would have been a pun) the needs of their customers. The issue, in this case, is that these products are promoted as (or at least assumed to be) healthy. We would argue that this might not be the case.

The purpose of this podcast is to discuss halo health terms and why understanding your body's requirements is the key to knowing what you should be eating.

Here's what we cover

• Thinking in principle - why it's the most crucial step to being able to make your own health decisions.
• Your body's macro and micronutrient requirements.
• The best way to fuel your body whether you are vegan or choose to eat meat.

• Issac Newton said, "The reason I can see so far is that I've stood on the shoulders of giants." Role models are an excellent shortcut to help you become the person you want to be in order to achieve the things you want to achieve.
• Choose your role models carefully and you can even be selective in that process. It's OK to look up to and admire someone, that's human nature, but you don't have to accept all of them. You can pick and choose which parts you like and which parts you don't like. Tiger Woods would have been an excellent golf role model; not so much in the relationship department.
• Role models are art in motion. As a human being you need art to survive. Your role model - in a very real example - embodies that. Be very careful who you choose.

• The science behind why you need to eat fat.
• The seven signs (not diseases) that you are not eating enough fat.
• The different kinds of fat, which ones to eat and which ones to avoid. HINT - DO NOT avoid saturated fat.

This is it!

The secret 'reveal' that you've been waiting for is finally here.

Someone is going to spill the beans on the one very specific thing you need to do in order to stick to your diet forever.

In fact, we can go even deeper than that. This 'secret' will help you not only stick to your diet but also your workout regime, and anything else that requires will power. Heck, it will also make you wealthy without working.

Hopefully, by now, you can tell that this idea I speak of, this secret gem, is not real at all.

There is no secret, no magic pill, special cream, surgery, extraction, etc., that will get the results that you want. There is just work.

But that doesn't mean you can't become the person who does the work and succeeds.

The purpose of this podcast is to share with you the strategies that I've found most helpful in helping me stick to my diet.

What I Cover

• A general overview of why there is no 'secret,' but that doesn't mean there are no strategies and way for you to improve. There is still a lot of work involved.
• The idea of compound interest/momentum and why this is such an important concept to leverage for success.
• Why willpower is not a light switch but, a muscle that needs to be developed. Creating a better environment is much easier.
• The lesson from the kids' movie Kung Fu - that there is only you. What that really means and how to apply it for your success.

Being a parent is a fantastic experience in many ways; sometimes, because it's challenging and other times because you can experience love and joy beyond any measure possible.

Children seem to be the great divider of time in our lives - almost like the B.C and A.D of us. There was your life before you had kids where you had time, other interests and could remember doing things and there's your life after kids where you're busy, on a schedule, and always have another part of you that's out there in the world...and whether you're 90 and they're 70, they will always be your kids.

One of the things you're forced to deal with when you have kids is your own mortality, what will happen to them if something happens to me, and what do I want to leave them with after I'm gone?

Most of the time, 'things' get thought of when you ask yourself that question: your house, your investments, your possessions, etc. That is an essential line of thinking because those things are important.

Yet, there is something more important than that - your values, principles, and ideas.

Of all the great Industrial families who made a massive amount of money - only the Rockefeller fortune still exists to an even higher level than it did when J.D was creating his wealth.

This is because J.D understood that things are a result of the way you think. So he set in motion a play that would only allow his heirs access to the Rockefeller trust if they proved they were worthy and could handle it.

Because we are humans - philosophy, ideas, and values matter, which ones are you leaving to your kids?

I recently finished Cal Newport's book, Digital Minimalism and really enjoyed it.

There were two concepts which I found to be both urgent and vital to include in my life as soon as possible. The first was a distracted mind's intrusion on our solidarity - a topic for another day. And, two, the issue of free time and how it affects our mind.

I'm paraphrasing what I've read and what my takeaways are so, please feel free to dismiss both if you'd like. But at least give me the change to share what I think and see if it resonates with you.

The purpose of this podcast is to have a closer look at 'free time' and see if there is a better way to spend it than just mentally drifting.

What I covered

• Is free time a paradox? We spend most of our time 'wanting some time off,' even though when we get it; it doesn't seem to make us any happier.
• What is happiness and is it important?
• Does a lack of structure, free time, generate more happiness or less?

"Everything is amazing, and nobody is happy" are words famously (it might be notoriously now depending on who you're asking) spoken by comedian Louis C.K in a late night talk interview with Conan O'Brien.

The context was how incredible it is to be able to fly in an airplane and how even 60 years ago if you wanted to travel across the country, it could take days or weeks, not a few hours.

C.K also alluded to the fact that you could get the internet now on an airplane (the interview is 2 years old when the internet was novel on flights) which prompted the man next to him to get upset because it wasn't as fast as he would have liked instead of being grateful and happy that this 'awesome' technology was possible.

Having the pleasure of being alive in 2019 is fantastic. The opportunities presented to us are outstanding and abundant. So, then, why aren't we happy? Why is mental illness still a thing? Why are young people full of nothing but potential taking their lives? Why is there more addiction?

The purpose of this podcast is to comment on what we believe to be a central idea to creating and achieving happiness. Yes, it's a complex topic, and we don't have to cover everything, but we share what we believe, and have experienced, to be one important idea.

What we covered:

• The definition of happiness and success and why definitions and knowing your terms is essential to success. If you don't have a clear idea of what you want to achieve you'll never get.
• What, in our personal experience, has to lead to our personal feelings of unhappiness, depression, and anxiety.
• How we've achieved happiness and success in our lives.

Sorry about the swear word but it’s not us… it’s our guest.

Since the time this original episode aired, Mark Manson's book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F#*K has gone on to become a New York Times Bestseller.

Congrats to Mark!

We thought it would be fun to go back and listen to what Mark had to say about the principles in his book in this interview with Dr. Kreso.

The book is really about how to live a better life and that something we preach on Life By Design!

Mark is an author, blogger and entrepreneur. Mark writes about personal development and has a lot of people reading his stuff… so check it out.

What we covered:

• Why most people seem to be continuously stuck and unhappy.
• What you can do to become unstuck and start living a healthier and happier life.
• Mark’s book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a ****" and how it’s different from all of the other stuff that’s out there.

Oh, the scale. How we all have a love/hate relationship with you.

Looking and feeling good in your body is a goal we should all strive to achieve, especially since it boosts your self-esteem, and helps give you confidence for taking on the day.

The purpose of this podcast is to discuss 5 reasons, that we typically see, as to why you're not reaching the ideal weight/body type that YOU want.

What we covered:

• Why it's challenging to do things consistently that you hate doing. Muhammad Ali famously said, "I hated every minute of training, but I said: don't quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life like a champion." We all know that exercise and eating is part of getting the body you want, but hating it will make it hard to do.
• You haven't been doing it long enough. It would be fantastic if the timeline you had in your head for achieving a goal were the correct timeline; unfortunately, it always takes longer than you think.
• Aristotle, the philosopher not Dr. Kreso's son, famously said, "success is a habit, not an act." Consistency is critical - the shiny penny is fun to chase, but hardly ever leads you to where you want to be.
• There is a lot of 'conventional wisdom' about weight loss and exercise that's not based on physiology, so creating a plan based around how your physiology works is critical to your success.

Thursday, February 21st marks the start of the 2019 CrossFit Open.

Every year CrossFit crowns the fittest man and woman on the earth.

The way you earn this prestigious title is by winning the CrossFit games, and the way you get to the CrossFit games is by entering the CrossFit Open, placing well enough to go to regionals and then winning regionals.

We think you should register for the CrossFit open this year.

Why would we recommend this to you?

For many reasons one of which is not because we get anything from it. It's true we own a CrossFit and training facility with a similar approach, and in general, love the training model, but our recommendation has everything to do with you and your personal growth, development, and health.

We've all heard the saying that growth happens outside of your comfort zone, well, what better way to get uncomfortable about your fitness than registering for the CrossFit open.

Every year the same thing happens during the open. There are people there, who are scared and think they shouldn't be there and they absolutely blow themselves away with how great they perform.

We're willing to bet the same is right for you - deep inside you're much better than you think you are - and this is one way to challenge yourself to reach up and bit a bit better.

But it's not the only way...

On today's episode of Life By Design we talk about getting out of your comfort zone in general and discuss some of the other things you could do!

What we Covered:

• The power behind reaching outside your comfort zone.
• Safety first, please ensure that you're performing these workouts under the supervision of trained coaches and staff. CrossFit is fun but can be hard, do it correctly.
• Why you need a standard to measure against.
• Other ways to "get out of your comfort zone".

Growing up we were always taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast was supposed to serve as a way to get proper nutrients into our bodies and give us the energy to meet the many challenges and needs of the day.

It was also thought that eating a healthy (the jury is still out on what 'healthy' means) breakfast helped give us nutrients that would keep us full throughout the day, and would help us lose weight. However, a new study published in BMJ may disagree.

According to the study people who ate breakfast ended up about around 260 calories more per day than those that skipped breakfast and ended up weighing slightly more (less than a pound) than breakfast eaters.

The purpose of the podcast is to discuss the study, explain how we think this information is relevant to you and discuss the physiology of losing weight.

What we cover:

• Discussion of the study, what we liked about it, what we didn't like about it and our interpretation of the results.
• Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day, what about intermittent fasting and people who don't eat until much later?
• Is weight loss just a simple calories in vs. calories out equation or is there more to it than that?
• Do we eat breakfast, and if we do, what do we eat?

Skills are cheap passion is priceless

-Gary Vaynerchuk

As we search the internet looking for topics that we believe would be helpful for you, we can't help but feel overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed at the biases, overwhelmed at the atrocious and dishonest headlines, overwhelmed at context drops, overwhelmed at the rude poorly thought out comments towards others, overwhelmed at the lack of empathy and overwhelmed at the ignorance of one of the major factors that will actually make people's lives better... self-responsibility.

The overwhelm hit its peak while examining the Canadian Government's phase two of its new Food Guide release: the extra labeling of food that is 'high in sugar, high in saturated fat and high in salt.'

You might be wondering why it sounds like we don't like that idea?

We don't like that idea because it fails to bring into consideration the most important aspect of whether someone will buy the product and eat it - their desire. The old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, comes to mind.

Look at the tobacco industry. Is there anyone on the planet that doesn't know that cigarettes are unhealthy? Look at the labeling - it flat out says this product causes cancer (and other diseases) and has a horrifying and shocking graphic of a poor cancer surfer who is visibly disfigured by their condition. Yet, does this stop people from buying cigarettes?

It's overwhelming that the world has become a place where social pressure is replacing freedom of choice. Where if you have a different opinion than the mob, you need to be singled out and beat into submission.

The purpose of this podcast is to help preserve your mind as an individual and to help you understand that your choices and actions (both good and bad) should be yours, not your family's, not the government's, not your neighbour's, but yours.

What we covered:

• Keeping the mind of the beginner - how to understand your biases and set them aside as you're learning and gathering information before you make a decision.
• Since it's ultimately your life, we believe that your self-esteem depends on your ability to make decisions for yourself.

January 30th is Bell's Let's Talk day and we know what's coming...

Many people in our lives will share both excruciatingly painful and incredibly inspiring stories about their previous struggles and triumphs over their mental health challenges.

It's always surprising who posts because you would have 'never expected that person to have a mental health problem,' and that's exactly the point - there is not one person that's not affected by mental health challenges whether directly or indirectly.

The Canadian Mental Health Association reports that 1/5 people every year will have a mental health episode, almost 10% of the population will experience a major depressive state in their lifetime, and suicide is the leading cause of death from adolescence to middle age for both men and women.

These mental health struggles and challenges also include us. We have both had more than our fair share of problems, triumphs, successes, and misfires, and we believe sharing those with you could be of tremendous benefit.

The purpose of this episode is to share what, in our experience, we have found helpful in positively affecting our mental states and how we've managed to overcome our own, personal mental health challenges.

What we covered:

• Our own person mental health challenges and what that meant growing up and in adult life.
• How we've managed, and the tips and tactics that we have personally found the most helpful day to day in dealing with our own mental health struggles.
• A review of books that we've read, courses we've taken, or people we've found that have been valuable in helping create and maintain our personal mental health.

The FDA has announced that in 2021 there are changes coming to the way food is labeled in America.

Some of the changes include changing the serving size (they say nobody eats just 1/2 cup of ice cream), larger, bolded font for calories and a category of 'added sugars' helping people know the difference between sugars that naturally occur within the food vs. the ones that are added in.

The original idea of forcing food manufacturers to use food labels was transparency. It was assumed the more people that knew about what was in their food, the more they would be aware of what they were putting in their bodies and the better the decisions they would make.

But has that been the case?

The planned action and change has started a conversation and a debate about the whether food labeling has caused more harm than good with some research stating that food labeling, because of it's abstract terms, lack of public education and lack of over diet context, have done more harm than good.

What I Covered:

• How to read labels using Eat By Design as a starting point and context. I'm not saying this applies to you, but this is how I do it.
• The pros and cons of having labels and why reading them, even with a good amount of nutritional knowledge can be very difficult.
• Why I don't believe changing the labels, even to more 'realistic' measures, will have a positive impact on people's health.
• Some basics that, if you're going to read labels, you might want to watch out for.